In April 2023 the Society’s Honorary Secretary received an email from a member of the public of an old milestone advertised for sale at £250 on Facebook Marketplace. Visible on the photo was YORK and TAD 5. It had obviously originated in the West Riding of Yorkshire.
The seller was contacted by Hilary Jones, the North Yorkshire contact, and he turned out to be a groundworks contractor based near Otley. He had recently acquired it from a farmer at Towton (the site of a notorious battle in the Wars of the Roses). The farmer had found the milestone in one of his fields at Barkston Ash when it was hit by his plough “over 30 years ago”.
On one face it read YORK 14 / TAD 5 and on the other, damaged, face R 7. This would originally have been FER for Ferrybridge. Research on the 1849 OS 6 inch map showed it was originally situated on the east side of what is now the A162, originally the Doncaster and Tadcaster Trust Turnpike, south of Barkston Ash, at SE 48997 35535. The dimensions and shape of the milestone are consistent with the 18th century in situ Grade 2 listed milestone (YN_DNTC18a) further south on the A162 at Betteras Hill https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1167565.
The 1892 map shows it still in place but by 1908 it has disappeared from the map and a new milestone is shown south of the railway, where it still stands, one of the West Riding County Council’s so-called Brayshaw & Booth milestones (YN_DNTC22).
It was agreed that the best home for the milestone (if we could acquire it) would be at a museum rather than at the roadside given it had been missing for over 100 years. Christine Minto suggested The Ark. This is one of the oldest buildings in Tadcaster, a former museum and now the home of the Tadcaster Town Council. There are a number of old guidestones displayed in the rear yard of the premises. The Town Council were contacted and at their August meeting agreed to accept the milestone for safe keeping at The Ark.
Fortunately the milestone was still unsold, and the vendor reluctantly accepted a reduced offer of £75 for it (it having been already reduced from £250 to £150). The heavy milestone then had to be collected, delivered into temporary storage in Tadcaster (at the local brewery) in September, and finally moved into the yard at The Ark on 23rd November 2023. The cost for the installation work (£150) was shared 50/50 between the Town Council and The Milestone Society.
There are now 12 recorded out of place guidestones and milestones on display at The Ark and near Tadcaster, and the Tadcaster Historical Society are going to work with us to produce an information leaflet covering them all. This one now has the milestone ID YN_XTADl (lower case L).
Source: article by Hilary Jones in the Milestone Society Newsletter, no 46, winter 2024.
RWH / March 2025